Henri Milne-Edwards

French zoologist whose gave in to his passion for natural history by studying the lower forms of animal life. He became a student of Georges Cuvier and befriended Jean Victoire Audouin.

Much of his original work was published in the Annales des sciences naturelles, with the editorship of which he was associated from 1834. Of his books may be mentioned the Histoire naturelle des Crustacés (3 vols., 1837–1841), which long remained a standard work; Histoire naturelle des coralliaires, published in 1858–1860; Leçons sur la physiologie et l'anatomie comparée de l'homme et des animaux (1857–1881), in 14 volumes; and a little work on the elements of zoology, originally published in 1834, but subsequently remodelled, which enjoyed an enormous circulation.

He married Laura Trézel. They had nine children, including the biologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards.

He died on 29 July 1885, aged 84, in Paris.